Monster, Hunter, Player
by Hell.jpeg
Summary: Picture this; A person who plays Monster Hunter, gets stuck with their character, in a world of talking monsters That's what happens in this story! Beginning when a Nergigante finds two humans in the dumpster on her way home from work... (Started as a joke idea, but it stuck & became this thing I work on every once in a while so I figured it's something worth sharing) on hiatus
1. Humans? In my trash?

_AN: First off, this is my first long-form fanfic I've started in a while (hoping I finish it!)_

_I'll also be upfront about one of the main characters being a 'self-insert' of sorts/a character heavily based on be (but she's far removed from me at this point), and the hunter character being the character I play as in game. yeahhhh might be one of those fanfics but it's still something I'm passionate about. Feedback, favs, etc. are still very much appreciated 3_

_also idk how consistently I'll be able to update this, mostly because I'm busy with college myself_

* * *

"Trish? You're telling me, you have three weeks to finish this paper, and you're worrying about it now?"

"I know but I wanna get it done now so I won't have to deal with it later... and my problem is, I don't have anything interesting to write about myself. Fuck, I don't even know why we're writing personal narratives its sophomore year!"

"_sigh_ So, how about we start off with the boring stuff? Doesn't have to be anything big. Name? Major?"

"Well..," Trish glanced back down at her laptop and started typing. The glare from the sun made it a little hard to read, but it was nothing she couldn't manage. "I'm Trish, I'm a Nergigante, and I'm a student at Astera University," she typed and read out loud. "I am currently trying to major in journalism. I used to live with my parents, but I found a cheap house near campus and moved there."

"Boom, 3 prompts!"

Trish looked up from her laptop. "Three?"

"Mmhm! You can write about why you wanted to do journalism, moving out of home, or even why you moved out!"

"Nah, I already wrote about family for my application, and I'm only doing journalism because I don't know what else to do with myself," She leaned on her arm, slightly shifting the table.

"Trish? Um, that college essay? That was from two years ago now," Sayua pointed out. "I think it's ok to reuse the same topic."

"Well, I just don't want to write about that again!"

"Now you are just dodging around the paper girl!"

Trish slumped back into her seat. She needed some idea, they've been in this coffee shop for what, 30 minutes now? Sitting by the window, the leaves on the trees nearby falling, and it's almost sundown. At least Sayua was there to help. She's usually here at this time anyways before heading out to her classes. She sat at the other end of the table, a Nargacuga wearing a cold-shoulder top and large hoop earrings. Definitely more fashionable than Trish, who just wore a plain shirt with ripped-off sleeves. Trish sighed. Wasn't Odo supposed to come? She shouldn't be too worried though, she's always late.

"I guess I'll keep with this for now," Trish sighed. "The house is, um… white?"

"Excuse me, I asked for a medium triple shot espresso with layered caramel whipped cream on top and I don't see layered caramel whipped cream!" A voice yelled. Trish and Sayua cringed and looked towards the front counter. A Lunastra was snapping at one of the Baristas.

"I-Im sorry 'mam, but I don't understand what you meant by layered, whipped cream..,"

"Whipped cream with layers of CARAMEL in it!" The girl spoke again, now more condescendingly than before.

"Aaaand focus is gone," Trish facepalmed

"Of course it's Lucine," Sayua whispered. She knew her from her dorm, not for very good reasons either. "Hope she cools off before I get back. Besides what the fuck is a 'layered whipped' cream anyways?"

"Ugh I am giving this place a one star review how can you not know what a layered caramel whipped cream is?" Lucine grunted. She stormed over to the door, running into an Odogaron wearing a hoodie.

_Shit, that's Odo. _Trish thought

"Um, excuse me? You're in my way!" She snapped.

"Dude sorry, I-" Odo tried to apologize, only to get cutoff by Lucine scoffing.

"Ugh, even the people here have no standards," she complained, walking out. Odo shrugged and noticed Trish and Sayua waving her over.

"Fwew, some people man. I swear she's getting ruder every week," Odo said when she got there. "Uhh, still workin' on that essay?"

Trish sighed. "Just stuck. Lost my train of thought thanks to you-know-who."

Odo turned to Trish. "Why are you so worried about the dumb paper? Everyone else is pushing it off. Yunno, there's gonna be a lit ass party this sunday, might be nice to come down and unwind a bit,"

"How many times do I have to say it, I'm not about that life anymore." Trish sighed. "Last time I partied, nearly failed three classes and I'm not risking that again. Besides, I have a job now and bills to pay..,"

Odo put her hand on Trish's shoulder. "Dude, relax. At least take a break on your own."

Sayua nodded. "Listen, you've been at this for the past hour. Maybe something will come up you can write about when you're not worried about it, ok?"

Maybe…

* * *

It's been about 5 hours. Still nothing. She hoped something would come up during work but today was very slow and uneventful.

The convenience store, for what it is not much goes on outside of the occasional rude customer. There's also a mob of highschoolers that sometimes came by, but outside of joking around with each other they don't do much worthy of writing about. And even so they didn't come! The one day she needed something to inspire her!

_Maybe I could make something up._ She thought at one point. Something, like a mega combo of everything bad that happened during her shifts! It'll start off with a guy running up to her and demanding a refund while the highschoolers whacked each other with chip bags. One of them accidentally coats the floor with soapy water and it takes every employee working that shift to clean it up, only for the power to cut out. Then one of the fridges caught fire! But that wouldn't make sense, none of the highschoolers were a Mizutsune, what happened to the refund guy, and how would a fridge catch fire if there wasn't any power in the first place? She scrapped the idea.

Her shift was over anyways. She packed up everything she needed and left the store. A good thing about her job? It's not far from her place. The downside is she takes on 5-9pm shifts and has to travel in pitch black darkness. Trish stepped onto the sidewalk and spread out her wings. She felt a tight pull on her right side and folded them up. _Really? Right when I have to get home? _She grunted, rubbing the cramped area. Not the best idea to risk crash landing in the dark, best to walk instead. She's only wasting a few more minutes.

The streets were empty and quiet outside of Trish's footsteps. There's rarely anyone else out this late outside of other monsters going home from late shifts and the occasional group who had a bit too much at the bar. She took a right turn two intersections away from her workplace. Almost home.

_***CRASH!***_

Trish stopped. What was that? She looked behind her. There's just an alleyway. Last time she checked there's only a trash bin and a few smaller trash cans so something probably fell. She shrugged it off and kept moving.

_***CRASH!***_ this one was louder, followed by a grunt. Ok, now she had to investigate.

"Hey, anyone down there?" She peaked into the alley. More shuffling. She took out her phone and turned on the flashlight before walking down. There was something, no someone trying to push themselves up in the trash bin! And there was another figure knocked out next to them, dressed in jeans, a plaid shirt, and carrying a messenger bag. The one pushing themselves up had purple hair tied back into a ponytail and was clad in armor patterned like a Legiana. There's a bug on her arm, and a long staff on her back.

The person looked up to face Trish. A human?! And not just any human, a hunter staring at Trish like a deer in the headlights

"Uhh... hi?!" Trish said. The hunter fainted.

_Oh, uh, what the fuck? Is this even real? _She opened the camera app and nearly snapped a pic of them... _wait what am I doing? E-fame over their safety? I can't just leave them here! For fucks sake one of them's a hunter and who knows what they'll do if they're left alone like that?_

She gingerly picked up both of them and continued the way back to her house. She had to pause several times thanks to how heavy they were. Even getting back there unlocking the door was a feat in it's own without dropping them. Once she was in, now it's time to find a place to put them... uh, living room?

Trish turned to the first room on her right and laid both of them down on the couch. They're still knocked out amazingly. But why, why out of all things were there humans in the trash bin, in an alleyway? Maybe it's just a wild fever dream, or she's hallucinating, she'll sober up and they'll be gone and she ended up taking two bags of trash here instead... ok maybe taking two bags of trash wouldn't be a nice alternative but at the same time, one of them is a hunter. For all she knew, she could've just let a murderer In the house.

...

She had to call someone, just in case.


	2. Welcome to the World of Monsters!

"Two humans!" Trish yelled into the phone. "Two of them! In the alleyway trash can!... and now my livingroom."

"Umm Trish?" Sayua said over the line. "You on something?"

"No! I mean-" Trish paused and peeked into the living room. Both the hunter and the other human were still knocked out. "Look I just need help like I don't know if they're badly hurt or not, why they came here, hell how they got here! And get this one of them is a hunter!" She stepped back into the hallway

"Wait," Sayua cut her off. "Did you just say, hunter?"

"Yes! They're wearing LEGIANA SKIN! Giant ass weapon!"

"Holy shit what the fuck were you thinking?" Sayua yelled. "Fuck it, I don't care if you're trippin' or not I'm headding over! And you need to disarm that hunter ASAP before they wake up! Also if that's a thunder weapon you're seeing break that shit! Ok? I'm gonna call Odo too you hang in there tight!" She hung up.

Trish slumped against the wall. Great, now her friends are worked up. But first things first, disarm the hunter. The other human is just wearing casual clothes so hopefully they're not some secret hunter in disguise? She stood up, took a deep breath, and started inching her way to the living room. Getting the weapon should be easy right? I mean, neither of them woke up when she was carrying them here. She peeked inside once again and saw the hunter pushing herself up. Shit.

The hunter looked around the room before spotting Trish and springing up, sending the kinsect on her arm towards her.

"Oh fuckfuckfuckfuckfuck-" Trish ducked behind the wall. She heard a thud and the clanking of armor.

"Wake up! We're in danger!" The hunter yelled.

"Wha- who?" A tired voice came from the living room.

"No time! There's a Nergigante here and if we stay we're going to die let's GO!"

The hunter ran out of the room dragging the confused, other human with her. She turned to face Trish and pointed her glaive straight at the monster. Kirin horn… And she didn't notice it earlier? She should've trashed that weapon before she came back!

"Stay back I can handle this!" The hunter glared at Trish.

"Wait! I-I can explain!" Trish threw her hands up. "I know both of you are confused but I'm confused as hell too. I just say you in the trash earlier and I couldn't leave you there now could you PLEASE put down your weapon I'm trying to help!"

The hunter cocked her head to the side. "A nergigante, that talks?"

Trish nodded. The other human peeked over.

"Ok, I'm lost," She said. "You're telling me, we're in some world of monsters, and I'm somehow here with a hunter."

Trish nodded again and put her hands down. "Ok can you please put that down now? It's uh, scary?"

The hunter shot a harsh glare and sheathed the glaive, the kinsect coming back shortly afterwards to her arm.

"C-can we talk? In the living room or some place bigger?" Trish asked. The two humans nodded and headed back into the living room, Trish following them.

"Do I know you?" The other human asked the hunter. The hunter raised a brow and took a step away from her. All three of them sat on the floor.

"So, first off I'm so sorry for that weird intro. My name is Trish, uh I guess I'm a writer."

"Ok. Y'all can call me Jade," The other human said. "I'm an art student!"

"Prisma, 5th fleet hunter."

Jade looked over to Prisma. "Ok I swear I've seen you somewhere I just can't figure it out right now… Um?"

"I don't think we've ever met," Prisma said.

"Hold up, Monster… Hunter… 5th fleet Holy shit!" Jade gasped. "You're my character."

Prisma stood up and backed off. "Who the fuck are you?"

"I don't know where to start! You're a character, that I made up, for a game." Jade paused. "Wait are you even aware you're a video game character?"

"Look, I don't even know what a video game is!" Prisma snapped. "Ugh, first I get scared to death by a talking dragon and now you're trying to tell me my entire life's a lie?"

"Maybe?"

Prisma face palmed and sat down. Trish glanced between the two of them. "I'm not even going to ask." She said.

A loud and urgent knocking came from outside. "Trish! Backup is here! Are you ok?" It's Sayua and Odo.

Trish stood up. "Give me a sec," She walked to the front door and opened it. "Guys, I'm fine." She tried to calm them. "Just be careful I think I scared them shitless already."

Her friends didn't listen and charged into the living room.

"Aw shit," Trish ran over to find Odo had already pinned the hunter down and Sayua yanked the glaive off of her.

"A KIRIN weapon?!" Sayua held it up. "Trish what the fuck were you thinking! And if we're caught with this-"

Odo sprang back, knocking Jade to the side, "Fuck that's real skin,"

"Can you guys cut it!" Trish yelled. Everyone froze up. "Thank you! She's not going to hurt us, She's just lost and confused."

"Also, y'all really forgot I was here," Everyone looked over to Jade, who was lying on the floor.

"Fuck sorry dude, uh, forgot there's two of you heheh-"

"Odo," Sayua facepalmed and sighed. "Well I'm not waiting anymore, we're breaking this thing." She announced and held the weapon over her knee.

"Breaking? No!" Prisma stormed over. "That took me months to make!"

Sayua held the glaive away from the hunter. "Oh honey do you wanna get yourself in trouble?" She snapped back. "As if your get-up wasn't enough. Besides you don't wanna piss off kirin folk. Trust me on that one."

"Bu-"

Jade pulled on Prisma's arm before she could finish. "Dude, chill."

Prisma yanked her arm away. "Chill? How the hell am I supposed to remain calm when my shit's being stolen and destroyed?" She said.

"But, that's made of monster parts right?" Jade pointed at the glaive, then back at Prisma's armor. "...You might as well wear a human flesh suit no offence."

"It's not the same, thing!"

Odo rushed in to push the two of them apart. "Heyheyhey, relax guys." She put her arms down and turned to Prisma. "And sorry to say this but I agree with Sayua and uh-"

"Jade?"

"Yeah, Jade's side," Odo said. Everyone else in the room nodded. "Also, don't know if you forgot or whatnot but thunder element stuff can kill us easily.

Prisma froze up and looked around. Welp, she fucked up big time.

Sayua rolled her eyes and slammed the glaive onto her knee. She flinched back and dropped the still intact weapon on the floor.

"What the hell is this thing made o- nevermind," Sayua grabbed the glaive again.

"How about this? We hide the weapon and the armor," Trish pitched.

Prisma grunted. "If that's the case… is there a place I could-"

"Take that off?" Trish said. "Take a right down the hallway, the bathroom should be the first door to your left. You have clothes under there right?"

She nodded and headed out of the living room. All focus was on Jade.

"Yo can I ask something?" Odo said. "Are you both from the same world?"

Jade shook her head. "Nah, it's a little confusing to explain. I'm from a world of humans. Monsters don't exist there outside of movies and games I guess so it's kinda like this world? But the opposite? And there's a video game about her world were humans and monsters exist and uh… how do I put this lightly… you hunt monsters?"

Sayua glared. "Oh, I see."

Trish gave Sayua a sharp nudge. "Don't worry, there's plenty of stuff about killing humans here so you're all good." She said to Jade.

"...but uh that aside the character I play as in that game is, her." Jade explained. "But I don't know, never expected I'd meet her for real never mind here!"

Prisma came out of the bathroom and back into the living room. She was wearing shorts and a white top of some sort. She got her belt and pouch off the armor, as well as a few other tools… Didn't look too happy to say the least.

"What now?" She demanded.

"There's a shed we can hide these in, and a tarp to cover it," Trish said. "Landlord never checks it anyways and he gave me the keys to it. Might as well do something with it."

Reluctantly, Prisma agreed. The five of them headed outside to the shed. It was small, but more than enough room to store everything.

"Wait, we should bury it instead," Jade suggested.

"No?!" Prisma said. Sayua glared at her again.

"Like, what if something happens and there's a break in?" Jade brought up.

Prisma was about to speak up, but she was cut off by Sayua. "Trish, doesn't this thing have a lock?"

Trish nodded. "It'll be safe for now. Just, between all five of us we gotta keep this a secret ok?"

Everyone nodded. They covered the armor and weapons with a tarp and walked out, A light fluttering noise behind them. The whole group stopped and turned towards Prisma, who was the last to leave the shed. Her kinsect was hovering next to her. She held out her arm and tried to coax it to land there, only for the bug to ignore her and land on top of her head.

"What?" She said. "I'm not going to leave it in there."

Sayua sighed. "You can keep it. Just warning you if I catch that thing biting anyone I'm having it put down."

Prisma didn't even know how to react. She walked out with her kinsect still perched on top of her head and Trish locked up behind her.

"So, what are we supposed to do now?" Jade spoke up as the entered the house.

"Well, stay low?" Odo suggested as she locked the door behind them. "Let's say, humans don't normally exist here. Y'all could get some unwanted attention from that if you're not careful. I mean you won't be taken to some lab unless someone snitches about you being here, but best not to take that chance."

"You can stay here for now." Trish added. "The couch can pull out into a bed… well uh, hope you don't mind sharing though,"

Prisma and Jade looked at eachother in disgust.

"Nevermind. I'll see if there's any spare sleeping bags or something," Trish said. She headed down the hallway and opened the closet to her right.

"I swear if I catch you leaving one scratch on anyone, or even thinking about digging up your shit from the shed I'll make sure you'll never take a step outside for all I care," Trish overheard Sayua.

"Dude, cut it," Trish said. "Give her a chance. Also, sorry, there's only blankets if that's fine with both of you."

Sayua shot one last glare at Prisma before looking away, and Trish managed to catch a glint of red in them.

* * *

First night in the world of monsters, lying in a living room. No bed, no sleeping mats, blankets and sleeping on the floor because neither of them wanted to share the couch.

2am, both of them woke up to the sounds of many monster roars and screaming.

"What the fuck?" Prisma stood up and looked outside the window. The neighbor's house was all lit and from the window she could make out a Tigrex, Zinogre, and a Rajang screaming and tossing ping-pong balls at each other. They were gathered around a table covered in cups, some of them knocked over.

"Beer pong?" Jade said, climbing up on the sofa to watch. "This late? Gotta give it to them this is fun to watch."

Through the window, they saw the neighbors chasing each other around the room before the rajang jumped onto the table and broke it.

Prisma looked at Jade. "Really? I'd rather sleep thank you."

"Hey lighten up a bit!" Jade nudged her. "Besides, they'll tire out at some point, Or you'll just fall asleep anyways. That's how it was in my world. My neighbors were like this but eh we got through it."

"Well this isn't 'your world'. You don't have to worry about getting mauled to death, poisoned, stolen from, electrocuted, whatever." Prisma scoffed.

Jade cocked their head. "But, we worry about that all the time,"

"I'll put it this way. You don't have to worry about getting mauled to death, poisoned, stolen from, or electrocuted by a monster,"

Jade threw their hands up, "Ok miss huntress! And full offence if you keep that up you're gonna get yourself in trouble."

Prisma rolled her eyes. "You sound a lot like that Nargacuga right now,"

"Like it or not, Sayua's got a point," Jade said. "I get it. You're a hunter, you're not used to seeing monsters act like humans, you've probably slain a ton of them. But you gotta be careful ok? Just, try to mentally block out the fact they're not human at least."

"How old are you? 18?" Prisma said.

"Um… yeah? But, that's not the point."

Prisma scoffed and climbed back down onto her sleeping mat. "I'm not taking life advice from some kid."

Another loud roar came from the neighbors, alongside with the sound of cups flinging out their window. Prisma grunted and yanked her blanket over her ears.

"...Goodnight?" Jade said, climbing down from the sofa and back onto their mat.

3 am. The neighbors were still going off and Prisma was wide awake.

'_You'll just fall asleep anyways' My ass!_ Prisma thought, peeking through the window. They stopped playing beer pong a while ago, and now they're just gathered around by the window and chanting. The Zinogre glanced over and made direct eye contact with her. Whoops.

She drew back and layed back down. _Alright, I'll at least try... _


	3. So, what now?

First off, thank you for all the favs and follows so far! Second, I'm just about caught up posting the chapters between here and Ao3 so I can update on both sites at the same time now ig. Chapter 4 is coming along slowly because I got wrapped up in college work but I'm almost done w/that

And now for comment replies!

Wizzer96: They're anthro! More on the 'furry' side than gijnka though

* * *

Saturday morning. Trish poked her head into the livingroom. Both Jade and Prisma were sleeping far apart from each other with Jade curled up to the left of the couch, and Prisma sprawled on the floor to the right.

_I should make them breakfast. _Trish thought, leaving the living room and heading into the kitchen. She checked the fridge and only saw a few eggs, a bag of shredded cheese, half a loaf of bread, half-filled water pitcher, and a few mushrooms. She checked the pantry next to it and found a less impressive stash of ramen packets and salt.

_Damn, I should've done groceries earlier. Whatever, I'll just make-do for now. _She pulled out a large pan and turned on the stove. They'll figure something later. She cracked and mixed all the ingredients into the pan and added some salt and pepper. Should be half decent at least.

Trish's phone went off in her pocket. She grabbed it and saw Sayua was calling. At this hour?

"Sup dude. You oK?" Trish asked.

Sayua yawned. "I'm alright. Had to wake up early to do a room inspection because SOMEONE kept complaining about the 4th floor."

Trish rolled her eyes and flipped the omelette. "Again? I swear it's like they can't have anything. How many times have they got busted this year?"

"Trish, you know we could lose our jobs if we don't do it right?" Sayua said. "I thought you were through with partying."

"Yeah but it's insane," She turned off the stove and started plating. "I get it, RA and campus rules but it's always 4th floor, always your building."

"And they keep calling me to do it for some reason," Sayua grunted. "It's not like I want to bust them either. But, that's not what's bothering me right now."

Trish leaned against the counter. "What's up?"

"The two humans, they ok? Was I too harsh on the hunter last night?"

Oh boy. "Jade and Prisma? You want an honest answer then I don't know." Trish said. "They're still sleeping right now but Prisma did say some pretty nasty things about you."

"Shit," Sayua said. "I think I came off too strong last night I mean with 'that' get up-"

"Dude, no offence but you threatened her two times of course she's gonna be pissed." Trish pointed out. "Give her a second chance at least?"

A pause. "Alright." Sayua yawned again. "I gotta go back to bed. Talk to ya later,"

The call ended and Trish shoved her phone back into her pocket. She looked up and saw Jade and a groggy Prisma enter the room.

"Oh, good morning!" Trish waved to them "Just finished making breakfast. It's not much but I think it's better than nothing at least. Both of you sleep ok?"

"No," Prisma complained, taking a seat. "Neighbors were loud."

"They always are," Trish said. "They rented that house for the same reason I'm renting this place. Cheaper than dorming, and stuff like that isn't allowed on campus."

Jade and Trish sat down at the table. Prisma started wolfing down her food while the other two took slower, smaller bites.

"I didn't get to ask this last night, but how did you guys get here?" Trish asked.

Jade shrugged. "I have no idea," She answered. "Prisma you got anything?"

"No?" She was taken back. "Don't even remember what happened before that… and now I have to find a way back."

Jade took another bite of the omelette. "Same here. Just got back home for break and went straight to bed because I was tired," She said. "And everything I know about world travel is based on video games and TV so-"

"Wait, video games? Again?" Prisma asked. "What do they say about portal making."

Jade raised a brow. "...Um, what are you suggesting?"

"You could take what you learned from them and build one,"

"Bruh I'm an art student for a reason. I don't know jack shit that and I can't do math" Jade said.

"B-but? I thought they taught you that."

Jade and Trish both looked at eachother, then back at Prisma. "I don't think that's how video games work dude. They're not really an 'all seeing tome of knowledge', just something for fun," Trish explained.

"Then how does she know so much about my world?"

"I think it's just a coincidence. And, I'm pretty sure there's a ton of things that are different, right?" Jade said. "How about this, I say weirdly specific things and you have to tell me if they're true or not there's gotta be something… You have a melynx companion."

"True?!"

"...Your handler's a foodie and gets herself into trouble a lot?"

"Also true?"

"What about, when you first got to Astera the ship you were on got stuck on Zorah Magdaros, and you had to fly the rest of the way there by wingdrake unti-"

"Enough! That's exactly what happened." Prisma cut her off.

"Damn, that's the most specific one I got," Jade muttered.

"...Ok, maybe we can talk about this and how to get back later." Trish jutted in. "um. If you're done with those I can wash them for you."

Jade and Prisma looked down at their plates. Both of them have long finished their omelettes and were left wondering how long they were arguing for.

Hours later, both of them kept to themselves while Trish went back to trying to write her paper. Still no ideas, or anything interesting happening to her… except for them.

_Should I? _Trish thought. _No, we just met. Besides, what if my professor thinks I'm lying and making stuff up? _She closed her laptop. _I'll give it a few days. Maybe something interesting will happen at work tonight instead._

* * *

It's 8pm, at least that's what Jade guessed. Trish had long gone to work leaving the two of them by themselves. Jade found out her phone charger worked with the plugs in Trish's house. Might be useless unless she can get the wifi working, but it's something.

Prisma on the other hand was busy taking inventory on what she had. So far she counted up all her potions, rations, craftables, all of her trapping materials (whoops), and her notebook. She set her scoutfly cage on the table as well which started lighting up the area with dots of blue. Her kinsect on the other hand wasn't anywhere near her… hold on. She looked up and saw it was flying over to Jade, who noticed it and let it land on her arm.

"I think it likes me," Jade said, giving it a gentle pet. "Does it have a name?"

"Nope," Prisma answered, going back to taking inventory. She took out her carving knife and checked it's sharpness.

"What about, Mr. Buggyton?" Jade suggested.

Prisma glared at her "Absolutely not."

Jade sighed as the Kinsect flew off her arm and back to Prisma's side. "I'm bored..," She announced, sinking into the couch. "I was thinking, since we're here and have no idea how long we're gonna be here, I should explore the town a bit. You down?"

"No. Too risky. What if we get caught?" Prisma was quick to reply. She didn't want to say it to her face, but she'd rather be knocked around by a pack of bullfango than spend more time with her.

Jade stood up and stretched. "Suit yourself then. I'm gonna head out. It Trish comes back before me just let her know." She unplugged her phone and walked out of the living room.

Prisma rolled her eyes and went back to reorganizing. She stuffed the potions and a few craftables inside before pausing and thinking, _She shouldn't be out alone._ The front door opened and shut. As much as she hated the idea, she wasn't going to leave Jade in danger. She shoved one more potion into her pouch and ran outside. Jade was already across the street.

"Wait!" Prisma called out as she ran over. "I'm coming… Just, don't do anything stupid."

* * *

Another slow night. Trish wasn't even caring at this point and was sitting behind the counter on her phone. The boss wasn't there and no one else was working tonight so who's to say she shouldn't kick back for a bit?

She looked up from her screen and checked her arm spikes, not even noticing the doorbell going off. _They're growing back in again. Maybe next week I'll break them off?_

"So, this is a convenience store,"

Trish peered through her arm spikes and at the aisles in front of her. Purple hair, and a little bit of black hair too. _They're out?!_ She put her arm down and watched the two humans head to the back of the store, Prisma lagging behind and looking around the place. Trish stood up. At the same time she didn't say "don't go outside" or anything, just thought they were going to stay home.

"These are… different," Trish overheard Prisma in the back.

"Those are soap pods," Jade said. "Trust me, there's a lot of reasons you don't wanna eat these."

"What about these?" Prisma asked. Trish saw her holding up a chip bag.

"Those are good," Jade grabbed a bag for herself and they started making their way to the counter.

"So, this place is a lot like your world isn't it?"

Jade nodded. "I mean, there's the whole monster-thing that's different but I'd say so. Sup Trish!"

Trish froze up. How the hell was she supposed to respond?

"We were just exploring around town, got hungry, didn't feel like going back to the house, so we stopped by here and… It turns out this is where you work." Jade continued.

Prisma rolled her eyes. "I only came so _you _wouldn't get into trouble,"

"Please tell me you have the zenny for that." Trish said. Prisma pulled out a coin pouch and put down a few ancient-looking gold pieces while jade pulled out a wallet and a few coins and dollars from that.

"Hate to break it to you, but we can't accept either of those."

"What?" Prisma's eyes widened. "It's zenny right?"

"I only have 2 dollars, 38 cents," Jade pointed out

Trish took a deep breath. "Jade, I have no idea what that means. And Prisma? Zenny here's different." She pulled out a more modern and polished looking coin from the register to compare it.

"How about this, I'll cover it for now?" Trish offered. She took out her wallet and put a few of her own coins into the register. She handed them the chip bags. "You know how to get back right?"

Both of them nodded and thanked Trish on their way out.

"Stay safe out there!" Trish said as they left the store. It was only 200z, no biggie. She sat back down and went back to watching videos.

_I didn't give them the house keys…_

Trish stood up. They were long gone by now. The last 15 minutes of her shift dragged on and felt like hours. _Seriously Trish what were you THINKING not giving at least one of them the house keys! Or at least leaving it out for them… maybe they did find it somehow? That'd mean they went through my shit though… wait what if there was a break in! Dumbass!_

As soon as the shift ended and she closed up shop, she grabbed her stuff and flew straight back home keeping an eye out for both of them. No signs. _They said they knew the way back right? They should be fi-_ She winced and fell onto the ground in front of her house, a few spikes breaking off. She pushed herself up and checked herself. Only her arm spikes chipped off. At least she didn't have to worry about them now. She unlocked the door and slowly made her way inside. She looked into the living room where Jade was petting the kinsect and Prisma was sitting on the floor organizing her stuff.

"You guys make it back here ok?" Trish asked. The two of them looked up from what they were doing.

"No." Prisma said. "The chip bag was mostly air."

"Oh, I've seen worse," Jade said.

"And you're ok with that?"

_If that's the only thing they're worried about, everything's fine._ Trish thought. She checked everything just in case. Nothing's out of place and the spare house keys were still in her drawer so that was a relief. _I'll talk to them about it tomorrow. _


	4. (notice!)

Sorry for no new chapter, but I have an announcement to make

I'm putting this fic on an indefinate hiatus. First off I will clarify **This doesn't mean Monster, Hunter, Player is going to be discontinued (I have chapters 4-5 planned out and a finished draft of ch4). This is just a mental health break**

Basically life's been extremely rough for me school-wise last month, and with the current state of the world (pandemic & quarantine yunno?) my mental health's been trashed to the point it's difficult to work on projects or stay interested in things. Idk when I'll be in the right state of mind to keep writing, never mind starting to regularly update MHP again.

_(will take this notice down when ch4 gets published)_


End file.
